'Tech Support Aura is a powerful thing': 24-hour IT support guy goes god-mode when clueless office staff repeatedly unplug a computer then claim that it's broken, resulting in an epic 'I told you so' moment

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Sep 27, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

There's a theory that office technology is built differently–and not in a good way. This 24-hour tech support guy knew very well that office technology rarely works how you want it to. Still, after receiving several overnight calls from the same company, he knew something wasn't working right–and it wasn't just the technology. 

Although all office technology seems to be built faultily, this guy knew something bigger was at play when none of his over-the-phone software hacks worked. Sure enough, after troubleshooting things a bit and tinkering with the interface, the tech support guy realized the most obvious blunder of all: The computer was unplugged. 

However, after this easy fix, it seemed like nobody in the office could check this simple solution before calling their tech support guy, repeatedly begging for his help over the phone to realize that it was just the cable being unplugged finally… Again. Finally, the tech support guy had had enough and learned their phone number by heart, delivering the most epic, godlike one-liner over the phone that would fix their 'tech problems' for good.

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    Cheezburger Image 10409383936
    via @olhafur via Canva

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    Cable management Short I used to work for a company that provided an SaaS product to law enforcement... specifically jails. It was a small company, I was a developer, trainer, and end user support. Note that jails do not close...
    via falcopilot
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    This makes one very motivated to write solid, easy to use software, and train the users very thoroughly. One morning about 4am I get a phone call, our software stopped working. Hokay fine,
    via falcopilot
  • 04
    uh, does this work? Can you get to the internet? No. OK, do start, run, type CMD and hit enter. Black window? Good, type ROUTE PRINT and hit enter, Tell me what it says next to 'Default Route'. OK,
    via falcopilot
  • 05
    type PING and that string of numbers. No reply? Hm. OK, look at the back of the computer, there should be a power cord, keyboard, mouse, and then one more... yeah there's a blue cable lying on the floor that looks like a
    via falcopilot
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    phone cord but the end is too big? OK, there's probably only one place on that back of the PC that will fit; plug it in there. It won't stay? Wedge it in and push the computer against the wall so it stays... It works
    via falcopilot
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    now? Great, tell your local IT staff they need to replace that cable because the retainer clip is broken. Yeah no worries, OK bye. I even emailed the IT people and told them.
    via falcopilot
  • 08
    A week later, at 4am, I get a phone call, same place, same story. I went straight to the blue cable, asked them to again tell their IT staff about it. I emailed their IT again.
    via falcopilot
  • 09
    Made a call to the facility commander, who laughed and said "yeah, we have a work crew mop that room those nites, probably they move the machine and the cable falls out. I can never get IT out here."
    via falcopilot
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    A week later I looked at the Caller ID and didn't even say hello- put on my sleepiest voice and said 'there's a blue cable laying on the floor, plug it into the back of the machine. *click*.
    via falcopilot
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    Oddly the calls stopped. Next time I talked to the commander, he said there was a note on the counter to plug in the blue cable, and I was some sort of god for being able to diagnose a problem in my sleep without them even saying anything...
    via falcopilot
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    Rathmun 6d ago • I'm just picturing the user staring at the handset, utterly baffled, and a little bit spooked. If they didn't know about the previous string of support calls, that would have, indeed, looked godlike.
    via Rathmun
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    nictheman123 · 6d ago • • You know, the Tech Support Aura is a powerful thing. Many can fix WiFi issues just by being nearby, and other issues can be fixed with nothing more than a stern glare.
    via nictheman123
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    Merkuri22 6d ago • VLADIMIR!!! I probably would've advised someone to duct- tape the cable in place at that point.
    via Merkuri22
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    mercurygreen • 6d ago • My best one was answering "This is I.T. I've already fixed it reboot your computer *click*"
    via mercurygreen
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    Second best was answering "Yes I know it's. broken we're working on it *click*" because I knew WHICH snowflake was calling and I didn't have time to give a personalized status message. Yes, she
    via mercurygreen
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    tried to get me in trouble but her entire office knew the system was down and she was questioned on why she thought interrupting me while I was trying to fix it would be the right thing to do.
    via mercurygreen
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    • SuttonSystems 6d ago. I thought that was going to be the beginning of an elebarate escape attempt
    via SuttonSystems

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